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Hi,
Cruel Jewel is one of the hardest 50-milers in the country.
56 miles through the Chattahoochee National Forest. Roughly 16,000 feet of climbing. Technical trails, steep grades, heat, humidity, and long stretches between crew access.
Just finishing is an accomplishment. Winning takes some serious heart. Cody Bare won it in 12:02. Congrats from the entire Feed team, Cody — what a performance.
If you know Cody, it's probably as the filmmaker behind David Roche's YouTube channel — the guy filming Leadville, Javelina, and Road to Western States. This time, he was the one racing.And his fueling plan was one of the more aggressive setups we’ve seen for a mountain ultra.
We wanted to share with you - as this is another testiment to how consistancy and high carb fueling is changing performances.
⛰️ The Fueling Strategy:
The night before the race Cody started with Nomio - the is 2.5 kilograms of performance-enhancing broccoli sprouts in a format your body can actually use to help buffer lactate acid - that burn you feel when you are climbing it burns less.
2-3 hours before the start - Cody took Maurten's Bicarb which helps you get the most out of high intensive efforts. Cody then started hydrating with The Feed Lab Hydration (Wild Berry) plus half an SiS Beta Fuel gel 15 minutes before the start. Once the race started, Cody kept up his fueling with relentlessly consistancy - a mix of SiS Beta Fuel, Precision, Amacx for gels and Skratch Hydration in his bottles at the aid stations.
Here is the key, for the first five hours - Cody took a gel every 20 minutes which added up to 135 -140g of carbs/hour across the South Georgia Mountains. After hour five - he backed off slighlty to consuming a gel every 30 minutes (hitting about 100g of carbs/hour).
🏃🏻♂️ The Move That Won the Race
Cody’s race plan centered around one section between mile 27 and mile 33. At mile 27, he swapped his heavier pack for a lighter belt setup after learning first place was only 30 seconds ahead. Then he attacked the next climb, and secured the lead for the rest of the race.
☀️ The Biggest Lesson: Heat Changes Everything
The hardest part wasn't the climbing. It was the humidity.
Cody trains in dry, high-altitude Boulder — basically the opposite of a humid Georgia summer day. Race conditions completely changed his hydration and sodium needs on the fly. By the finish, he'd taken 8 Precision salt pills, 2 pickle juice shots, and refilled his ice bandana constantly — and he still felt like he needed more sodium.
👉🏼 Cody’s Advice for First-Time 50 Milers:
Train your gut, especially with fluids — hot races dramatically change how much you drink. If you get nauseous, slow down instead of stopping the fuel; the calories you miss will catch up to you later in the race. And train specifically for heat and humidity, because fitness alone doesn't automatically transfer.
Next up for Cody: back-to-back 50Ks later this year, and another summer filming and running in the mountains.
-The Feed.
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